discussion Board

What did you learn in chapters 6,9 and 10? What peaked your interest? Answer with one new thread and reply to TWO others. See syllabus for requirementI uploaded the power point for chapter 6-9-10 and two reflections and response for: 1.

In chapter 6 I had a quick reality check when studying into the issues that companies face with risk management. It never really occurred to me the importance of preparing for risks of all kinds can allow a positive response, if any of these actions were to occur. The particular risks that I did not seem to before hand understand were those of nature such as hurricanes, tornadoes, fires, etc. These natural disasters are so common and can truly wipe out an entire company, and if not financially stability, it can be for good. These little details can cause such a big problem if not correctly prepared for.

Although I was more intrigued by the thought of natural risks, and not realizing how lack of preparation can affect a business, I also realized what an impact risks such as fluctuation of prices of necessities and even just the issues of incorrect communication can hurt a business. It is crucial to have topics like these discussed in a business to ensure that they continue a high profit, and can recover if these risks are ever a problem. and 2. One aspect of chapter 6 that I found to be very interesting was how many decisions were being made at the upper management level without taking advantage of the technological tools available today. One example being network design decisions that only use the DCF analysis and do not take uncertainty into account. In an ideal world this would suffice, but there are too many variables of uncertainty at play to not take them into account. If a manager only takes cost into affect they will likely make long-term decisions that cannot be altered if situations change down the line.

In chapter 9, I found it surprising that many companies divide supply and demand management into separate jobs, where sales handles demand and operations handles supply. This means that each are working independently to their own benefits instead of the benefit of the overall profit. If sales gets incentives based on revenue and operations receive incentives based on cost, it means that they are implementing processes that most likely conflict with one another and prevent the company from obtaining the highest profit possible.